Hi Lowell,

Well, Well, so glad you've made a visit!! So you want the skinny on today's quake huh? Frankly, its been this series of quakes off of the coast near Stewarts Point which of course signals something is happening there. But what is it? Its not on the San Andreas, but there are numerous faults not quite so obvious off shore.

I think Don and I are in agreement that the Northern CA area is well worthy of watching these days. Its not one quake that makes a note of patterned seismicity, but the series of quakes.

If looked at regionally, these are some of the interesting items to note:

Imagine 3 bands, or lines

1. Along the Coast
2. The Mid Coastal Range
3. The Inland Range

These bands run from the north side of San Francisco Bay to Eureka on the coast to Redding Inland.

Area #1 has had many quakes off of Stewarts Point, the 5.0 at Bolinas and many quakes in the Petrolia to near off shore area's.

Area #2 includes the 5.2 at Yountville, the 4.2 in Bennett Valley and lots of other small seismic activity. The Maacama Fault north of the Rodgers Creek Fault provides lots of food for fodder in the multiple Ukiah 4.0 quakes.

Area #3 includes Brentwood which recently had a 3.7 along with multiple other small quakes in the Pinole, Concord & last but not least Don's predicted 3.8 at Rio Vista.

Aside from these three active area's there has been a quite obvious increase in seismicity near Pacifica. For the past year this area has shown a marked increase in small earthquakes. At first it was maybe four in a month, and now four in a week is not unusual at all.

But one thing Don and I noticed recently was twice a quake occurred on the San Andreas Fault near Pacifica and immediately it was followed by quake in Hayward, due east across the Bay. This is a curious set of occurrences. This brings to mind past history where moderate to large earthquakes occurred on the San Andreas and within a year or two a mirroring quake would occur on the Hayward Fault. Though there is absolutely nothing to indicate we are approaching this kind of scenario at this time, it certainly is worthy of watching.

As usual, the quakes in the Coalinga, Avenal Area always seem to peaks Don's interest. I know he watches the area like a hawk, even though he won't admit it. This week in particular has brought a lot of clustering and piques one's interest as to whether or not something larger is in the offing.

Of course your mention of the cool temperatures in your neck of the woods reminds us in the Bay Area of a quote from Mark Twain, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a June in San Francisco." However, this June has been like no other as we have had record temperatures all over the bay and both Don's area and my own in Sonoma County have hit the 100° mark this past week.

Its good to see your smiling face again. Don't be such a stranger.

Petra (with Don riding shotgun)